Stranger Than We Can Imagine (39 page)

We have always been subject to change, but much of the nature and direction of that change has been beyond our control. Programming not only communicates, but acts on its own communication. As a consequence of the power this has given us, the speed of change has increased dramatically. But assuming the responsibility for steering change raises the issue of responsibility. It forces us to consider purpose: what are we trying to do? This was not a problem that blind chance or natural selection ever had to wrestle with.

In alchemy, there is a process known as
solve et coagula. Solve
means the process of reductionism or analysis; the reducing of a substance to its indivisible components. In the
I Ching
this is represented by hexagram 23, ‘Splitting Apart.’ This is equivalent to taking a pocket-watch to pieces in order to understand completely how it works, and is necessary before the equally vital second stage of the formula can commence.
Coagula
is the reassembly of the pocket-watch in a perfected, or at least improved, form. It is the equivalent of holism as opposed to reductionism, or the purposive process of synthesis as opposed to that of analysis.

In cultural terms, the individualism of the twentieth century can be likened to the process of
solve
taken to its logical end. Everything was isolated, and in isolation it was understood.

The network allows the process of
coagula
. Things are being reconnected, but with transparency and understanding that we did not have before the process of
solve
. Things are still liberated enough to be recombined into wild postmodern culture such as Super Mario Bros. But this can be done now with a sense of purpose and intention that was perhaps lacking before.

This does not mean, of course, that the hierarchies of the past or the individualism of the twentieth century are not still alive and kicking. Like all old ideas, they refuse to go gently and instead attempt to tear down what threatens them. Corporations are still machines for hoovering up wealth. Political power and financial power are still ignoring what the scientists of the world are screaming at them. Many non-Western states, particularly in the Islamic world, did not reject the hierarchical model and are finding the arrival of networks, without the buffer of a period of free individualism, to be painful. Organisations like Islamic State and Al Qaeda use the technology and structures of networks, but retain a hierarchical absolutist worldview. They have not undergone the difficult period of individualism which taught us how to deal with those who have different perspectives. The violence associated with absolutist views in a networked world, when seen in this light, seems almost inevitable.

The networked system is being tested, and it will only survive if it is strong. If this new system does make it, then who knows how long it will stand? Perhaps the network will last as our defining model for as long as the imperial system did. If that is the case, then free-floating, consequence-ignoring individualism was a brief liminal moment in history, a pause between breaths. The twentieth century will have been a rare time indeed, in those circumstances. It was a glimpse of mankind at its worst, and at its best. The supposed Chinese curse, ‘May you live in interesting times’, seems particularly apt.

For those who grew up in the twentieth century, things can look bleak. The fight over the freedom of the network looks futile. How is it possible to end growing inequality, and build a sustainable world, when the system continually makes the elite more powerful and everyone else weaker? Surely there is no way to protect ourselves from powerful institutions, from the NSA to Facebook, who are monitoring our lives and our personal identity for their own gain? But the millennial generation view hierarchical institutions differently. They do not automatically consider them legitimate. Legitimacy is something that needs to be justified in the networked world. It cannot be assumed. Such institutions are powerful, but without legitimacy they are not all-powerful. The Swiss corporation Nestlé was damaged more by the public’s reaction to their promotion of formula milk in the developing world than they were by the legal response to their actions. The public’s complaint would have been amplified greatly if it had occurred in the network age, rather than in the 1970s and 80s.

In the postmodern world, things made sense of themselves in isolation. In a network, things have context. Multiple perspectives are navigable, and practical. This is the age of realpolitik individualism. System behaviour is altered by changes of scale, as we have noted, and nowhere is that truer than with network growth.

The uncomfortable fact is that, if we take an honest look at what we know about climate science, the twenty-first century appears to be the penultimate century in terms of Western civilisation. That’s certainly the position if we look at current trends and project forward. We can be sure, though, that there will be unpredictable events and discoveries ahead, and that might give us hope.

And there is the nature of the citizens of the twenty-first century to consider. If they were the same as the individuals of the twentieth century, then there would be little reason for hope. But they are not. As we can see from the bewildered way in which they shrug off the older generation’s horror at the loss of privacy, the digital native generation do not see themselves using just the straitjacket of individualism. They know that model is too limited. They are more than
isolated selves. Seeing themselves differently will cause them to act differently. Those of us born before the 1990s should, perhaps, get out of their way and wish them luck.

The network is a beheaded deity. It is a communion. There is no need for an omphalos any more.

Hold tight.

The description of the 1894 Greenwich Observatory bomb comes from the Royal Observatory website (
Propaganda by Deed: The Greenwich Observatory Bomb of 1894
, ROG Learning Team,
www.rmg.co.uk
), while the description of the weather comes from the Met Office archive of monthly weather reports (
http://www.​metoffice.gov.uk​/archive/monthly-​weather-report
). The quote from Conrad comes from his novel
The Secret Agent
. William Gibson’s comment about the future not being evenly distributed is a point he made in numerous interviews, for example his radio interview on
Talk of the Nation
, NPR, 30 November 1999.

The quote commonly attributed to Lord Kelvin is said to be from his lecture to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1900. The Albert Michelson quote is from
Light Waves and Their Uses
, p. 23. Philipp von Jolly’s advice to Max Planck is quoted on p. 8 of Alan P. Lightman’s
The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs in Twentieth-Century Science
. H.G. Wells’s June 1901 article ‘Anticipations: An Experiment in Prophecy’ was published in
North American Review
Vol. 172, No. 535, pp. 801–826.

My main source for details of Einstein’s life was Walter Isaacson’s wonderful biography
Einstein: His Life and Universe
. This is the source for Einstein’s letter to Conrad Habicht (p. 21) and the quote from Chaim Weizmann at the end of the chapter (p. 282).

The discussion about relativity itself is the result of endless rereads of Einstein’s own
Relativity, the Special and the General Theory: A Popular Exposition
. The different usage of Potsdamer Platz, Trafalgar Square and Times Square can be found in the original German edition (1917), the English translation (1920) and the Project Gutenberg eBook.

Much of the recent interest in Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven is a result of a 2003 biography by the Canadian academic Irene Gammel and the 2011 publication of her letters and poems. The details of her life in this chapter are based on Gammel’s biography,
Baroness Elsa
. The account of her performance for George Biddle appears on pp. 201–2 of that book, while her performance with a Duchamp press cutting is detailed on p. 173. The quote from Duchamp about the baroness is from Kenneth Rexroth’s
American Poetry in the Twentieth Century
, p. 77.

Much of the discussion of Duchamp’s work is inspired by the 2013 exhibition at the London Barbican,
The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns
. For more on the reputation of
Fountain
, see ‘Duchamp’s Urinal Tops Art Survey’, BBC News, 1 December 2004. The quote from Jasper Johns is from pp. 109–10 of Pierre Cabanne’s
Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp
. Duchamp spoke about the spectator’s role in art in ‘Session on the Creative Act’, a 1957 talk at the Convention of the American Federation of Arts, Texas. Erik Levi spoke of ‘the abyss of no tonal centre’ in
The Sound and the Fury:
A
Century of Music
, BBC4, 12 February 2013. James Joyce explains how
Ulysses
would capture Dublin in its entirety in chapter four of Frank Bugden’s
James Joyce and the Making of Ulysses
. The quote from Le Corbusier is from his 1925 book
Urbanisme
. Joyce’s comments about giving up his immortality are taken from Richard Ellmann’s
James Joyce
. Joyce’s interview with Max Eastman in
Harper’s
magazine is quoted in the same book.

Colin Wilson’s description of peak awareness is on p. 171 of his book
Super Consciousness: The Quest for the Peak Experience
. The words of William Blake are taken from his 22 November 1802 letter to Thomas Butt, which is printed in
The Letters of William Blake
edited by Geoffrey Keynes. Dalí claimed to have been inspired by a camembert cheese on p. 317 of his book
The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí
. The quote from Friedrich Nietzsche is from his book
Human, All Too Human
.

Details of Joshua Norton, including Greg Hill’s quote, can be found in Adam Gorightly’s
Historia Discordia
. For an anthropological explanation of how societies evolve into empires, see Jared Diamond’s
Guns, Germs
and Steel
, which also includes Diamond’s quote about not killing strangers on p. 273.

The words of Joe Armstrong are from a recorded interview in the Imperial War Museum’s
Voices of the First World War
series (
http://www.1914​.org/podcasts/​podcast-8-over​-by-christmas/
). The quotes from Christopher Clark are taken from p. 562 and p. 561 of his book
Sleepwalkers
. The details of the assassination of the Archduke are based on Tim Butcher’s
The Trigger
.

Aleister Crowley’s descriptions of Aiwass and Aiwass’s voice come from his book
Magick
(p. 427 and p. 435). The account of Crowley’s time in Cairo is largely based on chapter four of Lawrence Sutin’s
Do What Thou Wilt
. The three lines quoted from Crowley’s
The Book of the Law
come from chapter III line 60, chapter I line 3 and chapter II line 23.

The quote from Dan Neil is taken from Tom Geoghegan’s 1 July 2011 article for BBC News, ‘Is the British roundabout conquering the US?’. The quotes from Ayn Rand’s novella
Anthem
are from chapter eleven. Crowley’s letter was written to Ethel Archer on 26 March 1947 and is quoted in Anthony Clayton’s
Netherwood
. Information about the sales of
The Satanic Bible
comes from Chris Mathews’s
Modern Satanism
. LeVey’s quote that his work is just ‘Ayn Rand, with trappings’ is from Jesper Aagaard Petersen’s
Contemporary Religious Satanism
(p. 2). Paul Ryan’s speech is archived at
http://www.prweb​.com/releases/2012​/4/prweb9457144.htm
. For figures on the decline in church attendance in Europe, see
http://viaintegra.​wordpress.com/european​-church-attendance
. ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’ is from the New Testament, Matthew 22:39.

The quote from Mussolini is found in
Rational Man
by Henry Babcock Veatch. Crowley’s comments about free will are from
The Message of the Master Therion (Liber II)
. The quoted lines from his
Book of the Law
are 2:21 and 2:58. Details of the 2011 UK census come from the Office of National Statistics, and can be found online at
http://www.ons.gov.uk​/ons/guide-method​/census/2011/index.html
.

The Sergei Grigoriev quote is taken from Thomas Forrest Kelly’s
First Nights: Five Musical Premieres
(p. 317), and the information regarding
the missing police files comes from a 29 May 2013 BBC News Magazine report by Ivan Hewett, ‘Did
The Rite of Spring
really spark a riot?’ (
http://www.bbc.co​.uk/news/​magazine-22691267
).

Jean Cocteau’s quote comes from his 1918 book,
Le Coq et l’Arlequin
, while Florent Schmitt’s abuse is quoted on p. 82 of Alex Ross’s
The Rest Is Noise
. The study of contemporary press reports mentioned is the 1971 PhD dissertation by Truman Campbell Bullard,
The first performance of Igor Stravinsky’s Sacre du Printemps
. Leonard Bernstein’s description of
The Rite of Spring
is taken from
The Rite of Spring at 100
(
https://www.theriteofspringat100.org/the-history/
). Stravinsky discussed the vision that inspired his composition in his 1936 autobiography. The quote from Sasha Waltz comes from a 27 May 2013 article in the
Guardian
by Kim Willsher, ‘Rite that caused riots’, and the conversation between Stravinsky and Diagev is taken from p. 81 of Alex Ross’s
The Rest Is Noise
.

Sigmund Freud’s famous quote that ‘Dreams are the royal road to the subconscious’ comes from his 1899 book
The Interpretation of Dreams
. Luis Buñuel’s third-person comments are from his essay
Notes on the making of Un Chien Andalou
, which is included in the British Film Institute Blu-ray release of
L’Âge d’or
. The description of Dalí and Buñuel’s dreams comes from Robert Short’s essay
Un Chien Andalou and L’Âge d’or
in the same release. Buñuel’s quote ‘There’s the film, let’s go and make it’ is from Meredith Etherington-Smith’s biography of Dalí,
The Persistence of Memory
(p. 94). The review of
L’Âge d’or
in
Le Figaro
is from the 7 December 1930 issue. The details about the amount of fabric used in contemporary dresses comes from Bill Bryson’s
One Summer
. The quote from Dorothy Dunbar Bromley is found in Joshua Zeitz’s
Flapper
.